As we covered yesterday, Advent is a time to slow down and remind ourselves of the full meaning and implications of the Christmas story.
And there is no greater message found in the Christmas story than the message of hope.
Christmas…
The day that God became a man
to step down into our world
to come into our brokenness
to bring healing
and hope.
The story of God’s redemption in our lives is one that spans the entire Bible, but it culminates at the Christmas story. In fact, before Jesus enters our lives, Paul describes our situation as “having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).
Our God, is full of life, love and hope that is for all… but because of our sin, we are disconnected from Him.
Jesus came to reconnect us to God, The Father.
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.‘
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'” -Luke 4:16-21
Since the beginning of our sin in the garden, there has been a problem with our relationship with God.
Our Creator
Our Provider
Our Sustainer
And Jesus came to bring back our relationship with the Father.
That the Life-Giver would once again be able to fully breathe into our hearts and give us hope and life.
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
You may have doubted God’s love in the past, but Jesus came to proclaim and show God’s love so that we would never have reason to doubt.
So, to start our Christmas preparation, let us remember the hope that Jesus has brought us. That we could be called sons and daughters of the Living God.